Psalms 22:16

Psalms 22:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
• New International Version (NIV)Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
• New King James Version (NKJV)For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;

Context of Psalms 22:16

14I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; It is melted [by anguish] within me. 15My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery; And my [dry] tongue clings to my jaws; And You have laid me in the dust of death. For [a pack of] dogs have surrounded me; A gang of evildoers has encircled me, They pierced my hands and my feet. 17I can count all my bones; They look, they stare at me. 18They divide my clothing among them And cast lots for my garment.

Psalms 22:16 word by word

כִּ֥י סְבָב֗וּנִי כְּלָ֫בִ֥ים עֲדַ֣ת מְ֭רֵעִים הִקִּיפ֑וּנִי כָּ֝אֲרִ֗י יָדַ֥י וְרַגְלָֽי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• For dogsכֶּ֫לֶבkeleb · dogH3611
• have compassedסָבַבsâbab · to turn: surroundH5437
• me: the assemblyעֵדָה‛êdâh · congregationH5712
• of the wickedרָעַעrâ‛a‛ · be evilH7489
• have inclosedנָקַףnâqaph · to surroundH5362
• me: they piercedאַרְיֵה'ărîy 'aryêh · lionH738
• me: they piercedכוּרkârâh · to digH3738
• my handsיָדyâd · handH3027
• and my feetרֶ֫גֶלregel · footH7272

Cross-references for Psalms 22:16

• Psalms 22:1My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
• Psalms 59:6They return at evening, they howl and snarl like dogs, And go [prowling] around the city.
• Matthew 7:6“Do not give that which is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, for they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
• Philippians 3:2Look out for the dogs [the Judaizers, the legalists], look out for the troublemakers, look out for the false circumcision [those who claim circumcision is necessary for salvation];
• Revelation 22:15Outside are the dogs [the godless, the impure, those of low moral character] and the sorcerers [with their intoxicating drugs, and magic arts], and the immoral persons [the perverted, the molesters, and the adulterers], and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying (deception, cheating).
• Luke 11:53When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile [toward Him] and to interrogate Him on many subjects,
• Psalms 86:14O God, arrogant and insolent men have risen up against me; A band of violent men have sought my life, And they have not set You before them.
• Jeremiah 12:6For even your [tribal] brothers and the household of your father, Even they have dealt treacherously (unfaithfully) with you; Indeed they are [like a pack of hounds] howling after you. Do not believe them, although they may say kind words and promise you good things.”
• Matthew 26:57Those who had seized Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court) had gathered [illegally] together.
• Mark 15:16The soldiers led Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the entire [Roman] battalion [of 600 soldiers].
• Luke 22:63Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking and ridiculing Him [and treating Him with contempt] and beating Him.
• Luke 23:4Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this Man.”
• Zechariah 12:10“I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace (unmerited favor) and supplication. And they will look at Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him as one who weeps bitterly over a firstborn.
• Matthew 27:35And when they had crucified Him, they divided His clothes among them by casting lots.
• Mark 15:24And they crucified Him, and divided up His clothes among themselves, casting lots for them to see who should take what.
• Luke 23:33When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.

Commentaries on Psalms 22:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16For dogs have compassed me - This may refer to the Gentiles, the Roman soldiers, and others by whom our Lord was surrounded in his trial, and at his cross. They pierced my hands and my feet - The other sufferings David, as a type of our Lord, might pass through; but the piercing of the hands and feet was peculiar to our Lord; therefore, this verse may pass for a direct revelavion. Our Lord's hands and feet were pierced when he was nailed to the cross…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16For dogs have compassed me - Men who resemble dogs; harsh, snarling, fierce, ferocious. See Philemon 3:2, note; and Revelation 22:15, note. No one can doubt that this is applicable to the Redeemer. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me - That is, they have surrounded me; they have come around me on all sides so that I might not escape. So they surrounded the Redeemer in the garden of Gethsemane when they arrested him and bound him; so they…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-21Verses 11-21 In these verses we have Christ suffering, and Christ praying; by which we are directed to look for crosses, and to look up to God under them. The very manner of Christ's death is described, though not in use among the Jews. They pierced his hands and his feet, which were nailed to the accursed tree, and his whole body was left so to hang as to suffer the most severe pain and torture. His natural force failed, being wasted by the fire of…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16The wild pack of dogs represents aggressive and dishonest people.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. Evildoers are well described as dogs, which, in the East, herding together, wild and rapacious, are justly objects of great abhorrence. The last clause has been a subject of much discussion (involving questions as to the genuineness of the Hebrew word translated "pierce)" which cannot be made intelligible to the English reader. Though not quoted in the New Testament, the remarkable aptness of the description to the facts of the Saviour's history…Read the comment

Topics related to Psalms 22:16

• Afflictions and Adversities
• Jesus, the Christ
• Persecution

In the dictionaries

• Aijeleth Shahar
• Beast
• Dog
• Hind
• Poetry
• Shoot
• Silent
• Worm
• Accommodation
• Assembly

Commentaries on Psalms 22

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• The Treasury of David
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings